D.C. United Women surrender late goal, draw 1-1 with New Jersey Wildcats

By: Rick Allen
Overextended soccer player & avid soccer fan always in search of a good game while finding room for life in between.
Quarter Volley

After what had been 78 minutes of even soccer, D.C. United Women looked to earn all three points in their first ever home game by taking a 1-0 lead over the New Jersey Wildcats through substitute forward Christie Welsh’s goal in the 79th minute. Six minutes later the score was 1-1, which is how the game would end as the teams split the points.

The kickoff of the match was delayed about two hours by lightning and thunder associated with a passing thunderstorm. The fans were pulled out of the stands and the players, who had been warming up, were pulled off the field. Kickoff came shortly after 9:00pm, and New Jersey nearly took the lead on four minutes when United goalkeeper Didi Haracic’s clearance of a backpass was errant and went directly to a Wildcats player. Haracic recovered and made a save on the ensuing shot. United’s left midfielder Katie Menzie looked dangerous early, taking players on and winning 50/50 balls defensively. Her involvement led to the Wildcats swapping Kylee Rossi, the scorer in the Wildcats 1-0 triumph over D.C., from left midfield to right, with an emphasis on defending Menzie more attentively. On 13 minutes, another D.C. United error, this time coming when left back Brittany Cummins chested a ball down on the edge of the six yard box before her clearance struck one of her own players and headed towards the goal. Haracic scrambled across and dove at it, but it went wide and behind for a corner.
Despite possessing the ball well in the first half, United did not often trouble Wildcats goalkeeper Caroline Williams. Lone forward Tiffany Brown should take some of the blame for that, as many times her short and easy passes were inaccurate, and she did not hold the ball well against defenders. In the 35th minute, United were denied a penalty kick when the extended arm of a Wildcats defender made contact with the ball just inside the area. Players appealed for the penalty to be given, but the referee waved off protests. Mistakes in the United defensive third nearly came back to bite them again, when Cummins kept Wildcats forward Jessica Fuccello onside in the 42nd minute, but Fuccello’s close shot was saved by a sprawling Haracic. Nearly undone by their own mistakes, United could have considered themselves lucky to be level at 0-0 at the half.
Shortly after the start of the second half, forward Christie Welsh began warming up for United, undoubtedly to hold the ball better and allow the midfielders to get forward. In the 60th minute, midfielder Danielle Malagari (co-captains with defender Marisa Abegg) played defender Bri Hovington behind on a ball to the corner. Hovington beat a defender before sending a cross through the area that eluded everyone, but resulted in a collision with Williams who remained on the ground injured, before being substituted for reserve goalkeeper Emmy Simpkins. Malagari was instrumental in facilitating the attack, often sitting just on top of the back four, finding open areas to receive the ball and moving it forward from there. She enabled the two other central midfielders, Hayley Siegel (until she switched places with Katie Menzie) and Christine Nairn to be more adventurous going forward until she herself was substituted for Katie Cramp in the 72nd minute. Welsh entered the game for Brown at the same time, and that substitution paid nearly instant dividends. Hovington played a long ball over the top to Welsh with the Wildcats defense standing still in anticipation of the offside flag being raised. Welsh kept playing, collected the ball, rounded Simpkins, and blasted the ball into the net to give United the lead. The lead was short lived though, as the Wildcats drew even on Andrea Lopez’s looping effort that flew over a diving Haracic and ducked under the bar in the 85th minute. Lopez did not see the end of the match after being ejected in stoppage time. United had one more good chance to retake the lead, with Nairn winning the ball in the shallow midfield in the 87th minute, advancing on goal and shooting from distance, causing Simpkins to make a diving save to her right.
The draw levels United’s record at 1-1-1. They certainly had an opportunity to win, and will probably be kicking themselves for letting the game get away, and letting New Jersey have some easy chances in the early going. This appears to be a solid team with potential to win plenty of games if they can sort out the forward situation.

Their next match is this Sunday, June 12, on the road at the 5th place North Jersey Valkyries. The next United home match is Saturday, June 25th, against the New York Magic